Tips for your Emails

Welcome to your first internet class of high school. I hope that your first year is going well. Since you are going to be doing homework that will be emailed to me, I thought that we should review several rules of “Netiquette”. Please try and adhere to these rules to the best of your abilities.

v Before you even begin writing an email, make sure that you state clearly in the subject line what it is about. It is important for this class to include your last name and section since you are not the only class I have. Abbreviations for long words can be used as long as you think I will be able to distinguish it from junk mail.

v Please refrain from using any type of sarcasm in your email. If you think that what you are writing can be interpreted as sarcasm, don’t write it! Sarcasm can be interpreted incorrectly and anger recipients who don’t understand your humor. This is fine when emailing your friends, but please don’t use it with me or any other staff member.

v When beginning your letter, always address staff members properly. This means do not call them by their first name.

v After addressing a staff member properly, identify yourself properly. If you don’t tell me who you are, I can’t give you credit for your work.

v If you are answering a question or statement from a previous email, please include the quote before your answer. This is so I can remember what I asked you and understand your answer better.

v If you feel emotional or strongly about an issue, you can use different fonts to express these feelings. Just be certain not to go overboard if you choose to express yourself this way. Too many fonts can be confusing.

v Please watch your punctuation. This can be the difference between finding a website and getting redirected. One period out of place can change an entire URL address.

v Consider breaking up your paragraphs into smaller sections to make your email easier to read. You can also emphasize your point about certain issues better in a short section than having to go on and on about it. I have no requirement for length of an email as long as you can get your point across.

v If you send me an attachment, make sure it is not too large. If I can’t open it, that is points off for you. If you think it might be too large, send me the URL address where it is posted instead.

v Find replacements for intonation and gestures. An example of this is :(. Once again, please do not go overboard, but use these to express yourself better.

You can write a wonderful email that will rack up points for your grade. I will be going over this more in class, and perhaps you can add to our list of “Netiquette”.